Cuomo to greet Obama in Buffalo

Governor plans to welcome the president as he begins a bus tour through region

By Jimmy Vielkind

Published 10:59 pm, Monday, August 19, 2013

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to the media after the ceremonial signing of checks at the Herkimer Community College July 17, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y. The checks were for flood relief in the area. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) less

Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to the media after the ceremonial signing of checks at the Herkimer Community College July 17, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y. The checks were for flood relief in the area. (Skip ... more

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Cuomo to greet Obama in Buffalo

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Albany

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will greet President Barack Obama when he touches down in Buffalo on Thursday, the governor said during a Monday radio interview that offered the most detail yet on his planned interactions with his fellow Democrat.

"I want to welcome him that morning," Cuomo told Susan Arbetter on "The Capitol Pressroom." "The lieutenant governor will open the State Fair, which is the same time that the President comes. ... I will make it my business to visit the fair another time."

The state-backed fair opens on Thursday in suburban Syracuse and runs until Sept. 2. Traditionally, the governor attends on the first day — "Governor's Day."

Obama is set to arrive in the Queen City by 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the White House said, and give a speech at the University at Buffalo later that morning. The President will then board a bus for Syracuse, where he'll speak at Henninger High School, and head south toward Binghamton.

It's not immediately clear where Obama will spend the night, but he'll host a forum on Friday at Binghamton University before crossing the border into Pennsylvania.

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It's also not clear how Obama and Cuomo will interact in Buffalo and whether the governor will be present for any other stops on the tour. (Cuomo aides did not provide additional details when asked.)

In Binghamton, Obama's bus tour may face a crowd concerned with the prospect of natural gas hydrofracking, which the governor has kept at arm's length but the President has embraced. Cuomo said Obama's point about hydrofracking as an economic driver is "inarguable," but must be weighed against potential environmental risks.

Cuomo said he plans to spend the week preparing his twin daughters for college: Cara will enroll at Harvard University and Mariah will attend Brown University.

"It's one of those moments that you say, oh, this is seriously old. Just yesterday, I was going off to college," the governor said. "We're doing shopping and we're doing preparing and then I'm going to help them move in. It was the last chance that a desperate father has to cling to some time with his daughters before they flee the nest."